Holistic Review and Race

Race still matters.

The US education system is riddled with racial and class barriers, not to mention the effects of race beyond the classroom. It isn’t difficult to see how race has been and continues to be salient to the American educational experience.

In the aftermath of slavery, schools were racially segregated and schools for Black children had blatantly less resources than their white counterparts. In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education outlawed segregation in schools, ruling that separate was not equal. However, racial residential segregation, caused by racist housing laws and economic disparities stemming from systematic racism, continues to perpetuate de facto school segregation. As a result, students of color are often put in under-resourced schools and school districts where the odds for success are already stacked against them. What's more, over 60 years after the "official" desegregation of schools, research shows that racial segregation continues to grow.

How can we consider everything but race, when race affects our lives every day?

For Asian Americans, too, race is overwhelmingly salient. From advocating for parents who have limited-English proficiency and dealing with micro- and macro-aggressions as “perpetual foreigners” to coping with the histories and realities of violence and trauma, Asian American students face challenges that can directly impact their academic achievement. For instance, Muslim and Muslim-passing Asians have had to deal with violenthate crimes and harassment in their schools, which directly impact their educational experiences. Detention and deportation of family members and friends in Asian American refugee and undocumented communities also cause instability that disrupts learning. In general, Anti-Asian sentiment and crimes against Asian Americans have been on the rise in recent years. We cannot ignore these issues, nor can we ignore the issues facing other communities of color.

Our mission is to advocate for civil rights, provide legal services and education, and build coalitions to positively influence and impact Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders and to create a more equitable and harmonious society.